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NHS spent more than £2bn on private mental health hospitals last year
The Independent
|December 21, 2024
The NHS spent more than £2bn on sending patients to private psychiatric units last year, following decades of cuts to beds, new analysis reveals.
The huge sum spent on private mental health hospitals in 2023 was a £279m increase on the year before.
A report by healthcare consultants Laingbuisson, shared exclusively with The Independent, said the lack of beds within the NHS is a major driver of spending on private hospitals, warning healthcare leaders are “stuck between a rock and a hard place”.
The two biggest private providers, Priory Group and Cygnet Health Care, generated £509m and £560m in revenue last year. They account for more than 68 per cent of the market, according to the report.
Almost £200m was spent on private children’s hospitals by the NHS in the same year, figures show. The news follows a series of reports by The Independent exposing abuse within private hospitals such as those run by Cygnet Health Care and the former Huntercombe Group.
This story is from the December 21, 2024 edition of The Independent.
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